Destiny & Fate Part 2: Darkness Hidden In Memories
by Ace Flyheight
Summary: Sequel to Part I: The Next Keyblader. Ace's journey for answers to his questions has led him to the location known as Castle Oblivion. But the main question is: Will Ace's journey through the castle be the same as Sora's or will it be much more dangerous?
1. Chapter 1 Darkness of Kingdom Hearts

(Disclaimer: I'm only going to put the disclaimer on the first chapter here, but what it says, goes for every chapter. The property of Kingdom Hearts is owned by Square-Enix and Disney, but the story and my original characters are owned by me. Now, let's get on with the show.)

**Chapter 1****  
**

**Darkness of Kingdom Hearts:**

Ace continued to stumble through the infinite darkness of Kingdom Hearts. He stopped for a moment to grab the necklace and look at it one more time. "Sarah, I promised that I would come back to you. I will find my answers and I will come back." Ace said as he resumed walking.

"_**You chose to search for your answers and sacrifice the only chance that you might have had of being with the one that you loved." **_The same voice from all the times before, said from somewhere in the darkness.

Ace heard the voice, but shook his head a little at what it said. "No, I didn't. I didn't sacrifice my chance of being with Sarah. I'm going to find my answers and then I'm going back to the islands. I've decided that is what I'm going to do. Until I reach that point, I know that Sarah will always be with me in spirit, just like I'm always with her in spirit. That's how I know that I didn't sacrifice my chance to be with her." Ace said confidently, still comforted by the thought that neither one of them was ever truly alone.

"_**So, you plan on trying to have both your answers and the one you love? You can try, but you will not succeed. Everybody must give up something to gain something else. In the real world, you cannot keep hold of everything; there are some things that you must let go of no matter how much you care about them."**_ The voice said, seeming to reverberate from all directions in the cold darkness.

"I'm going to try anyway. I will find a way to do it, I promised Sarah that I would come back and I will bring my answers back to the islands with me." Ace said as he continued walking.

"_**So you are still intent on trying? Fine then Ace, I will show you the path, but you must decide as to which one is more precious to you, your answers or the one you love." **_The voice said as it faded away and a small pinpoint of light seemed to sparkle somewhere in the darkness ahead of Ace.

"Sarah, I will come back soon...I promise." Ace whispered as he ran towards the light. After a few minutes of running, he reached where he had seen the light coming from and saw that it was a door that had been glowing. He walked up to the door and pulled on the handle a little, feeling it beginning to open. He covered his eyes with his hand as the door opened and bright light began to stream out of it. He walked through the door, still covering his eyes as he did and saw himself in the center of a crossroads, four paths surrounding him on all sides. "What is this place?" Ace asked as he looked at the four paths that surrounded him. Suddenly he felt a pain in his chest again and remembered the deep slash that he had received from that Heartless back during the last battle. But, he noticed something weird; the injury was quickly healing and it had already almost disappeared. "That's weird." Ace said under his breath as he heard a voice suddenly speak.

"These are the crossroads of the keyblade." A voice said from behind Ace. "Also, you can thank me for the healing of your injury." The voice continued.

Ace turned around and saw a person in a reddish-blue cloak with the hood down, revealing his dark blue hair that had several blood-red streaks through it, as well as his goldish-red eyes that seemed to stare right through him. "Who are you?" Ace asked as he summoned Blazing Angel to his hand in case this guy wanted to fight him.

"You can put your keyblade away. I'm not here to fight you." The figure said as he continued to stare at Ace.

"Okay then, but still, who are you?" Ace asked again as his keyblade disappeared.

"I am known as Dante..." The man, Dante, said.

"My name's Ace." Ace said, beginning to wonder what he was here for.

"I knew that you were Ace, a wielder of the keyblade." Dante said.

"So, what am I here for?" Ace asked.

"You were brought here to decide your true path as a Keyblader." Dante said.

"I already know what I will choose. I decided to take path to Light back when I first received the keyblade and I'm not about to change my decision." Ace said as he began to walk down the path directly in front of him, the same path that Sora had walked during his own journey.

"Don't lose sight of your light, Keyblade Master." Dante said as he saw Ace make his decision before he saw Ace walk off into the distance. He chuckled a little as a thought came to him. "It looks like you were right all those many years ago. It looks like you really did survive after all. I could tell that was you, even if you don't look the same and I guess that I don't either. I wouldn't even be surprised if you didn't recognize me after all this time, Shade." Dante whispered to himself as he walked off towards the path to Dusk, the path that led to night.


	2. Chapter 2 Phantoms of Castle Oblivion

**Chapter 2**

**Phantoms of Castle Oblivion:**

As Ace continued to walk down the path, his mind kept going back to the person that he had met at the crossroads, Dante. _'Just who was that guy?' _Ace wondered as he shook away the thoughts and began to walk on. He had more important things to concentrate on right now.

After a few more hours of walking, Ace finally noticed that it was beginning to get darker, but then he noticed some kind of building in the distance. _'Maybe I can rest there for a while or at least until the sun comes back up.' _Ace hoped as he realized that his body still ached from all the strain and he continued to push his body as he started to run towards the building. After a few minutes of running, he finally reached the building and realized that it was actually a castle. It looked a lot different than the sand castles that he, Sarah, and Tai used to make as well as any castles that he had ever seen in any books that he had looked at before. After a moment, He shrugged his shoulders. As long as he could stay inside for the night, he didn't really care what it looked like. He began to push against the door; trying to open it and felt it budge a little from the pressure.

After a few more seconds of pushing, the door finally began to open enough that Ace could get in. He walked inside and noticed that everything in the room was pure white and seemed to give off an inner light. He began to look around the room before he felt a presence behind him. A presence of pure darkness. He could feel the presence becoming stronger behind him and he summoned both Blazing Angel and Dual Souls to his hands as he swung around to see the presence for himself. As he swung around, Ace was finally able to see what the presence was that had been behind him. It was a person in a black cloak but he couldn't see who was under it because of the hood covering the person's face.

"Welcome Keyblade Master to Castle Oblivion. Here to find is to lose and to lose is to find." The person spoke, the voice giving away that the hooded person was a male.

Ace lowered his keyblades a little but he kept a firm grip on both of them. "What do you mean?" Ace asked, not trusting this guy at all. But he noticed one strange thing about this person, he was sure that this strange person seemed to fade out from time to time as he talked.

"You will learn soon enough. The answer to your question lies in your memories." The figure said as he began to fade away a little. "But, I will pose one question to you: do you know what you truly want?" The figure asked as he continued to fade away.

Ace nodded confidently. "I know what I want and I will not sacrifice one thing to have another." Ace said as both keyblades disappeared from his hands. He still didn't have a clue about what this man wanted but he didn't want to seem to hurt him, at least not yet.

"Hmm, the hero speaks boldly. Go, then. The rest of Castle Oblivion awaits. Walk the avenues of latent memory, and you shall find what you are searching for." The figure said as he finally disappeared completely and didn't leave a trace behind. It was almost as if he had been a ghost, he just seemed to vanish into the air itself.

As Ace began to turn around and head towards the door that was at the opposite end of the room, he suddenly stopped and blinked a few times. What was that? He was sure that he had just seen what appeared to be four more people wearing cloaks out of the corner of his eye. After a moment, he just shook his head and continued to look at the door at the other end of the room. He didn't have any time to waste; he needed to get through this castle. He had a feeling that he would have to go through this castle to continue his journey. He began to run towards the door and began to open it, before he had to shield his eyes from the light as he walked through the door.


	3. Chapter 3 Death of a Hero

**Chapter 3**

**Death of a Hero:**

As Ace saw the light beginning to fade, he moved his hand away from his eyes. He began to look around before he realized that this room was nearly identical to the last one, even though it seemed to be built a little different. After a moment, he began to feel the same kind of dark presence behind him once again, but this one, it was dark just like the other one, but there was something else...it felt even darker, to the point of being sadistic. Ace turned around quickly this time and summoned his keyblades once again; he had a feeling that this time he wouldn't be able to leave this room without a fight. As he turned around, he saw another black cloaked person, but this one had the hood down. The person under the hood was a young looking woman with slicked back blonde hair that seemed to radiate coldness from all around her.

"Oh look, it's another little kid that's trying to be a hero. So, are you feeling at home here yet?" The woman asked Ace, with a slightly unsettling grin on her face.

Ace took a few steps back and got into his attack stance. He didn't like this woman at all; there was something seriously unsettling about that grin on her face. "I don't know who you are or why you're here and I don't really care. I've got to continue on through the rest of this castle. Besides all that, I really don't like you already either." Ace said defensively as he prepared for whatever this woman would do. All he wanted was to get through this weird castle and continue to find his sought after answers as well as prepare to see Sarah again for good.

The woman looked mad for a moment and Ace could have sworn that he saw surges of electricity around her but then he shook the thought away. "You little...Fine, I was just going to play with you, but I guess that it's time for me to have some 'special' fun. Just remember, you're the one that started this. If it hurts a little, just tell me, I'll make sure that it hurts even more then." The woman said as that unsettling grin reappeared on her face. "Oh and one other thing, my name is Larxene and I'll make sure that you never forget it." The woman, Larxene, said as several kunai surging with electricity appeared between her fingers and she taunted Ace to come on.

Ace almost smirked a little as he decided to take Larxene up on her little challenge. He charged straight towards her, with no idea of what she could do, with both keyblades in front of him. As he reached Larxene, he tried to slash her with both keyblades, but she suddenly disappeared and at that moment, a single bolt of lightning came down from above him. He barely rolled out of the way as he saw Larxene above him.

Larxene was slightly surprised when Ace dodged her lightning attack, but she would take him down. She didn't care about what Marluxia had told her. She was already ticked off at this guy and she was going to kill him, but she was going to have some fun with him first. As she saw Ace notice her above him, she threw several kunai straight down at him, but then she threw another one and she knew that this one wouldn't miss even if the others did.

Ace saw the multiple kunai headed straight for him and he began to roll again to try to dodge them, and he succeeded in avoiding all of them. That is, until he felt a stabbing pain in his right leg. He stopped his movements long enough to notice that one of Larxene's kunai had stabbed him in the leg. Ace tried his best to at least jump away a few feet to at least gain some distance. As soon as he had gotten at least a little distance between the two of them, Blazing Angel disappeared from his hand as he reached down with that hand to try to pull the kunai out. As he grasped the end of the kunai and began to pull on it, he felt a painful shock of electricity surge through his entire leg. After clenching his teeth together, he finally managed to pull the kunai out and the painful shock began to disappear from his body.

"Aww, did it really hurt that much?" Larxene asked as she grinned some more. "Don't worry, I'm just getting started." Larxene said as she threw several more kunai at Ace.

"Sh--Shut up." Ace muttered as he finally felt the pain go away. He had to try his best to keep from getting hit again. At that moment, Ace saw the next group of kunai headed towards him and he barely leaped out of the way of them. As soon as he dodged them, he summoned Blazing Angel back to his hand so that now he had both of his keyblades out again. He charged again at Larxene just like before, but this time he had a plan of his own. As Larxene disappeared again, Ace jumped straight up and caught Larxene with his keyblades at the exact moment that she appeared above him. "I've got you." Ace said with a slight grin as he speared Larxene with both keyblades and then began a series of unrelenting attacks with both keyblades. As his last attack connected with Larxene's body, he used his keyblades to flip himself above her and then he double kicked her in the chest, knocking her down to the floor hard.

After the dust began to settle from the impact, Larxene began to get up from the floor and there didn't seem to be a single mark anywhere on her from Ace's relentless onslaught. She smirked a little as Ace landed on the floor on his feet without any trouble, except a little hard breathing.

'_There's something weird going on here. I just hit her with that entire onslaught, yet she doesn't have a mark on her anywhere. What's going on here?'_ Ace wondered to himself as he just stood there and switched his stance to a more defensive stance.

"I was hoping to have some more fun with you, but if that's all you can do, it'd be better if I went ahead and ended it here." Larxene said with a cruel smirk as the whole room began to surge with electricity so bright that it literally blinded Ace.

While Ace was temporarily blinded, he suddenly let out a scream as he felt his whole body being assaulted by pain. It felt like hundreds of those electrically charged kunai were piercing his body. After a few seconds, he completely lost the ability to stand anymore and fell to the floor, but not before he was able to see again and saw all those kunai stabbed throughout his body. As soon as he saw all those kunai, Ace's vision began to blur before it went completely black and he collapsed on the spot, dead.

"Larxene, I told you not to kill him. He's only useful to us if he is alive." The figure that Ace had seen when he entered the castle said as he appeared behind Larxene.

"I know I know. He was just getting so boring to play with that I decided to go ahead and break the little toy. It's not like he would have been of any use to us anyway, unlike what you said." Larxene said as she grinned that sadistic grin again.

The figure sighed a little. "You never understood anything Larxene. You always love to play your little 'games', but you never take the time to look at what's truly happening and see the consequences of your actions..." The figure said as he stopped talking for a moment and looked over at Ace's dead body, before he looked back at Larxene. "You truly have no idea of what you have done, do you?" The figure asked.

Larxene lost the grin on her face as she growled a little. "I know what I did. I killed our weak, little 'toy'. There's no more to it. He's just a dead corpse now. I told you that he was too weak." Larxene said with disgust as she disappeared into the air.

The figure just shook his head a little. He already knew what was happening and there was no way to stop it. Number XII was the one to start it and now the rest of them would be dragged down with her. "Larxene, you always take things too far and now it is past the breaking point." The figure said, even though it came out more like a whisper as he disappeared as well.


	4. Chapter 4 Darkness of the Soul

**Chapter 4**

**Darkness of the Soul:**

"You are so weak. I can't believe that I ever lost to somebody as weak as you. You couldn't even beat a girl as weak as her." A voice said in a mocking voice.

Ace groaned a little as he realized that he was laying on some kind of hard surface and still had his eyes closed as he heard a person's voice echo in his head. He realized that he had heard that voice somewhere before, but he couldn't place it. It sounded so familiar.

"Oh, don't you remember me Ace. Didn't I tell you that you could never get rid of me?" The voice said arrogantly from somewhere around Ace's body.

'_That...that voice. How can that thing still be alive? I killed him.'_ Ace thought to himself as he opened his eyes to see that he was laying down on a stained glass platform similar to the ones that he had seen in his dream. He began to get to his feet and looked down at the picture that the stained glass formed. It was a picture of himself, Sarah, and Tai, a keyblade in each of their hands as each keyblade was pointed towards the center of the platform, right under his feet. As he began to bring his eyes up, he glared at the figure that had just appeared at the very edge of the platform. He recognized the figure as soon as his cloudy blue eyes connected with the figure's icy blue eyes, which resembled Ace's almost to a fault but there was pure darkness raging about behind those eyes. "You...How can you be alive? I killed you and saw you fade away." Ace asked as he stood there watching the figure.

The figure took a few steps further towards Ace before he stopped. "Yeah, it's me. I told you that you could never rid yourself of your darkness. Remember, the closer to the light that you are, the greater your shadow becomes. And you're a lot closer to the light now than you were back then." The figure said as he continued to walk closer. As he got within several feet of Ace, he summoned a dark, corrupted version of both Dual Souls and Blazing Angel.

"That's right you did say that last time and I am a lot closer to the light now. But, as long as I trust in the light, I'll never lose to you. You may be my shadow but that doesn't mean that you're stronger than me." Ace said as he summoned both of his keyblades as well, ready to confront his shadow once again just like before. He felt as if he was dancing with the devil in the darkness as he got ready to confront his shadow.

"Whatever, you only beat last time because I was careless. Since we never did decide on a name, just call me Shade. It's a lot better than being called your shadow." Ace's shadow, Shade, said as he finally charged straight towards Ace.

"I don't care what name that you decide to go by, I still won't lose to you." Ace said as he saw the charge and blocked both keyblades, but then he realized that it was exactly what Shade wanted him to do.

Shade smirked a little. He had his chance now to attack Ace. Shade suddenly brought up one foot and kicked Ace squarely in the chest.

Ace coughed a little as he felt the kick and felt himself fly through the air a little from the impact. While Ace was flying backwards, he slammed both keyblades into the platform to stop himself and then used the momentum to fling himself back towards Shade.

Shade knew that one little kick wouldn't be enough to finish off Ace, but he didn't expect Ace to recover so quickly. By the time that it had registered in Shade's mind how quick Ace was flying back towards him, it was too late. Shade coughed a little as he felt the two keyblades connect with his chest and he was the one sent flying this time.

As soon as Ace saw Shade get knocked backwards into the air, he jumped back into the air as soon as he felt his feet touch the ground. As he jumped into the air, Ace came back down on top of Shade before he could stop himself in mid air and slashed him multiple times with both keyblades before Shade finally retaliated and they both began to trade and block each other's attacks.

After a few moments, Ace finally saw another opening and took his chance to try to take down Shade. He hit Shade with both keyblades, launching him up into the air before Ace jumped up to where he had knocked Shade up to. As soon as Ace was close enough, he speared Shade with both keyblades and then began a series of attacks with both keyblades. As Ace's last attack connected with Shade's body, he used his keyblades to flip himself above Shade and then he double kicked him in the chest, knocking him down to the glass platform hard.

As Shade hit the floor, he coughed more and began to struggle to get up as he saw Ace land on his feet and look at him. Shade grinned a little as he saw Ace standing there. "I guess that you think that you have won, am I right?" Shade asked with an arrogant look on his face. "You're wrong. Thanks to you, I now have what I always wanted even though I am going to help you." Shade said.

Ace took a few steps forward, but then he stopped as he heard Shade's words. "What do you mean?" Ace asked slightly confused about what Shade said.

The grin on Shade's face spread a little wider as he heard the question. "You know that in the real world you're dead, right? You were killed by that girl of all people. And it's all because every time that you attacked her, it never did seem like you could do any damage. Well, that's because of what she is. Your keyblades don't work on souls or spirits. That's why it didn't affect her and she has the weakest spirit out of anybody that I have ever seen. So this is what I'm going to do, I'm going to take over your body for myself and get rid of her. After I have finished off the spirits in this place, I'll give your body back to you." Shade said.

Ace was confused for a moment. "So that's why I couldn't hurt her...But still, why would you help me?" Ace asked as both keyblades disappeared from his hands.

Shade just started laughing as if he was going crazy for a moment before he looked back at Ace. "My god, you really are an idiot, aren't you? You still don't get it, do you? I'm your shadow so that means that if something bad happens to you, then it happens to me as well. So, I'm not helping you because I want to, I'm just doing it because I don't feel like getting killed again. Feeling all those daggers digging into your skin and then shocking you to death is not a very pleasant feeling at all as I'm sure you know." Shade said as he stopped for a moment before he continued. "Now that you hopefully understand the situation that we're in, do we have an agreement?" Shade asked as he held his hand out towards Ace, darkness spreading out from his hand as the hand itself glowed a demonic red.

"I don't guess that I have any other choice." Ace whispered to himself as he walked up to Shade and held his hand out for a moment before he took hold of Shade's. At that moment, Ace saw the darkness wrap around both of their hands, keeping either one from backing out as the red glow of Shade's hand began to burn Ace's as the deal was sealed. Ace knew that it was a contract with the devil but he didn't have any other choices. He needed his dark shadow's power to take down Larxene. If he didn't then he would die here and never find his answers and at the same time, never be able to see Sarah again.


	5. Chapter 5 Rebirth of Darkness

**Chapter 5**

**Rebirth of Darkness:**

Ace's dead body on the floor began to glow as darkness surrounded his body. He began to slowly get up on his feet and stumbled for a second before he got his balance right. As Ace opened his eyes, they were no longer their normal cloudy blue but were now eyes that could scare even demons. The pupils had changed from their normal black to crimson, with the iris parts now pitch black instead of their normal grayish blue, and the sclera now crimson instead of white. He looked around the room, a slight grin appearing on his face. "It feels so good to be in control now, but it won't last very long. If I try to back out of the deal, then my own darkness will take care of me, even though that would be ironic considering the fact that I am darkness, but whatever. I guess that I might as well make sure that I have some fun taking down those _'ghosts'_." Ace said, even though it was actually Shade that had control now.

Ace looked down at the clothes that he had been wearing and scoffed a little. "Sheesh Ace, your sense of fashion really sucks. And to add to that, just how long have you been wearing these clothes, they're tattered and torn up. There's no way that I can go around fighting in these kind of rags." Ace muttered as his body was enveloped by darkness for a few seconds. As the darkness began to fade away from around his body, Ace's body, clothes, hair, everything had changed to better suit Shade's tastes. Ace's hair darkened until it was blood red and several black streaks appeared throughout his hair even though the length still remained the same, going down to the bottom of his neck in the back but only brushing the top of his eyes in the front. Ace's clothes had also changed completely. His original clothes had been replaced by a red ankle-length trench coat that was completely unbuttoned, a black sleeveless muscle shirt under the trench coat, black jeans that were tucked into a pair of black leather boots. A red cowboy hat also appeared on his head as well as two red crimson wristbands on both of his wrists. "Oh yeah, now this is more like it. At least now I can take those spirits down in style. I'm probably so badass stylish right now that there's no question about it, even the devil would definitely cry out of admiration." Ace said, laughing a little as he inspected his new clothes.

'_Now that that's out of the way, I wonder where that girl went. She's the main one that I want to take down, not to avenge Ace or anything, but for making me feel Ace's pain. If there's anything that I hate being reminded of, it's being the mirror of this weakling.'_ Ace thought as he closed his eyes and began to use the darkness to try to sense where the girl's ghost was at. He began to see through the multiple floors of the castle and finally found her ghost. She was on the next floor above him. He used the darkness to reach a little deeper into her and found out that she really believed that Ace was dead. A small grin appeared on Ace's lips as he began to walk towards the door at the far end of the room. He wouldn't be able to wield either of Ace's keyblades now that he had temporary control over him, but it's always been said that the darkness is the strongest ally that a person can have. Well in a sense, he was glad that he couldn't wield those accursed weapons; he could probably fight with his bare fists better than with those things.

He opened his eyes after those thoughts left him and he looked up at the door that he had now reached with his eyes closed. He would definitely have to make sure that he enjoyed what time he had left in this body. He entered the door and it slowly closed behind him as he walked through it.

The figure from before appeared once again in the room where the battle had been fought as soon as he sensed that the Keyblade Master's reborn body had just walked through the door to leave the room. The figure glanced at the door, under his hood as he saw the back of the Keyblade Master for just a moment as the door closed completely. He sighed a little bit, Larxene would be gone soon and then the rest of them. The darkness in a person's heart can be a powerful weapon when manipulated the right way, but under circumstance like this, it could be the downfall of everybody. The figure knew that his time would come soon, but he would make sure that he didn't go down without a fight and maybe, even though they would all disappear for good, they might still be able to shatter the Keyblade Master once and for all.


	6. Chapter 6 Fragmented Memories

**Chapter 6**

**Fragmented Memories:**

As Ace walked inside the next room, he could feel that sadistic girl's presence before she even appeared. He knew that she was about to appear judging by how the darkness seemed to fluctuate in this room. He grinned a little as he felt the darkness concentrating in a single spot at the opposite end of the room as he saw her appear in all of her sadistic glory.

"What the? How are you still alive? I know that I killed you! I know that I did! There's no way that you're still alive!" Larxene all but shouted at Ace with a look of shock appearing all over her face.

Ace grinned a little and then laughed. "Why do you look so surprised? Is it because I came back from the dead? Or is it something else?" He asked, still grinning. But, after a second he began to look a little bit more serious. "But, on a different note. I'm not the Ace that you fought last time. He's taking a little bit of a break while I have some fun testing out this body." Ace said as he both of his hands began to glow with pure corrupted darkness.

Larxene looked even more shocked now after she heard what this being of darkness said, if that was possible. "But still...fine, whatever. I guess that just means that I can have even more fun with you. Maybe, you won't break as easy this time." Larxene said, that sadistic grin covering up the shock on her face as her daggers appeared in her hands once again, crackling with electricity.

Ace raised his darkness covered hands up in front of him, before he got into a stance that resembled Ace's normal battle stance but without his keyblades. "Oh don't worry. It won't be this body that breaks this time, you can count on that. And one thing: that sadistic grin is seriously starting to annoy me." Ace said as he took a few steps towards Larxene and then the whole room turned pitch dark in an instant and Ace faded away into the blackness.

Larxene blinked a few times as she saw the room engulfed in complete darkness. She had never been one to like the darkness. That's why she had always liked Lightning. It always gave off at least glimpses of light in the darkness. Larxene then sensed Ace behind her as she jumped forward a little to get some distance, but it was almost too late for her. She felt a sudden chill, no, more like being frozen alive as she turned around to see what had happened. She couldn't see Ace or whatever this being of darkness was in this black abyss but she still wondered what that cold chill was that she had felt. At that moment, Larxene summoned several bolts of lightning that lit up the room for a few seconds and she saw finally saw where Ace was and she couldn't believe it.

"Wow, I thought that you were faster than this." Ace sneered as he looked Larxene in the eye, both of them within inches of each other. At that moment, he pulled back his fist as the darkness began to appear around it again as he threw the punch forward, connecting with Larxene's left arm as she brought it up as a reflex to try to defend herself.

Larxene felt pain blaze up through her arm as she stumbled back a few steps. What...What happened just now? She was a spirit; there was no way that she could feel pain. That was one of the good points of being a spirit; it meant that she could go on playing with people without having to worry about getting herself hurt. So what did this creature do to her?

"Wow, that was easy. I thought that it would be harder to actually make you feel pain." Ace said grinning a little. "You're probably wondering how I can hurt you, am I right? Through my connection to the darkness, I can use it to manipulate different kinds of things, like your soul for instance. That's one advantage that I have over my weaker self, unlike him I can actually shred your soul to pieces as well as everybody else in this castle." Ace said as he saw Larxene throw several of her kunai with her good arm. He raised his right hand and caught each and every one of the kunai and crushed them in his hand as the darkness protected his hand from the electricity surging through the kunai.

"What...What are you?" Larxene asked as she tried to focus through the pain that was blazing in her arm and then she cried out as she felt Ace grab a hold of her right wrist and crush the bones in it.

"How do you like it when the tables are turned, especially when you are the victim of your own little games?" Ace asked, ignoring her question and sneering at Larxene again as he punched her in the chest hard and heard what sounded like at least two maybe three ribs breaking.

Larxene coughed up blood as she felt her ribs break and she stumbled back a few steps. Larxene was beginning to lose her normally calm persona and was beginning to become desperate. What was this feeling? Was she actually scared at the possibility of dying at the hands of this creature or was it something else? She suddenly did her best to summon any lightning bolts that she could, considering the condition that she was in. Suddenly, multiple bolts of lightning came down directly on top of Ace so quick that there was no way that he could have dodged the attack. Larxene grinned a little. There was no way that he could have survived it. But, oops, it looks like she might have broken another toy, even though it was really just the same one as before.

After the blinding light from the lightning bolts began to fade away, there stood Ace without a single scratch on his body. He had an aura of darkness that surrounded his whole body before it began to fade away. The darkness had protected him from the ferocity of the lightning itself. His clothes had been singed a little by the bolts, but besides that he wasn't injured at all. "I have to congratulate you on that attack. It was almost too quick for me to notice and it did end up burning my brand new clothes a little before I blocked the rest of it with the darkness." Ace said as he clapped a little, arrogantly. "Now," Ace began, becoming serious again. "It's time for you to die." He finished as he summoned multiple spikes made of his own darkness and sent them flying towards Larxene.

Larxene couldn't believe it when she saw that Ace hadn't been injured at all from her attack. She still felt that sense of shock, mixed with dread as she noticed the obsidian spikes too late. She felt the spikes puncture her skin and felt herself flying through the air and then felt her back collide with something hard.

Ace stood there as he watched the spikes puncture Larxene's body and saw her fly through the air and collide with the wall. He had made sure that the spikes were long enough to be pushed all of the way through, so he wasn't surprised when Larxene's body didn't fall down, but was instead pinned to the wall. He walked up to where she was stuck to the wall and looked at her, eye to eye. "Well, that was boring. I was hoping that I could have some more fun out of that, but I guess that I have to end it here." Ace said imitating Larxene as he brought his hand up in front of his face and it began to glow with darkness. Ace leaned forward a little until his lips were right next to Larxene's ear. "This is the end for you." Ace whispered softly as the darkness formed a lance in his hand. Ace then saw the shocked look still visible on Larxene's face as she got a glimpse at the lance, even though it seemed to be fading from her face. He didn't care; this battle had been over before it had even begun. He thrust the lance forward, spearing it through her chest and he heard Larxene mutter something as she struggled to move, but then he noticed her body beginning to fade away into nothing.

Ace smirked a little as he saw the last vestiges of Larxene disappear from the wall. The lance disappeared from its place in the wall as he turned around and began to walk out of the room. He still couldn't believe how weak his true self was. His true self couldn't even scratch this girl, while he took her down without receiving so much as a scratch. He began to wonder who he would have to fight next out of the spirits still remaining in this weird castle. Well whoever it was, he hoped that the next fight would be more fun than this one was.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks just inches from the door. He looked back over at the wall where he had killed Larxene's spirit and saw something weird. He thought that he saw a silhouette of her and then just as soon, he saw her face and that sadistic grin in front of his face as he felt something cold touch his heart. It felt as if something had been shattered and he gripped his chest through his clothes as he felt the shattering occur.

"I couldn't leave without getting a goodbye present, could I? If you're wondering what that shattering was, it was the memories in your heart. Believe me; it'll take a long time for you to put all of those pieces back together." Larxene said as she disappeared once again, but this time for good.

Ace pounded the marble floor with both of his fists for a few moments before he regained his composure. How could he let a little girl like that break up Ace's memories? Well, actually, he didn't care about the memories themselves. It's just that his darkness had come from the dark emotions in Ace's memories where he had experienced any kind of emotion that had ties to darkness. Without a connection to those memories anymore, it looked like he might actually have some trouble trying to kill the other spirits here. "Well, I guess that this might actually be fun after all. I might actually have to try now against those other spirits." Ace said, his confidence coming back to him as he began walking again and walked through the door into the blinding light once again.


	7. Chapter 7 The Silence is Broken

**Chapter 7**

**The Silence is Broken:**

Before Ace even began to look around himself on the next floor, he had already sensed the presence of another lingering spirit and he was sure that this one was a lot stronger than that girl had been before he finished her off. He had a feeling that he probably wouldn't be leaving this battle without at least a couple of marks since he had already lost a great deal of his power when Ace's memories were shattered. Well, that would only be his problem until he finished off the rest of the spirits here. After that, it would be Ace's problem to fix, he would have to be the one to put the pieces back together and there was no way that he was going to help Ace with that.

At that exact moment, the figure of another black-cloaked spirit appeared in the room, except that this one seemed to be fairly muscular compared to the girl so it was a pretty good guess that this one was a guy.

"So, who are you?" Ace asked as he waited for a moment, but he never did hear the spirit respond. "Come on, speak up. I really want to know your name before I give you a taste of the second death." Ace asked, beginning to become a little impatient with this spirit.

"My name is Lexaeus even though you will not be alive long enough for it to matter, demon." The figure said as it pulled the hood back to reveal a man with brownish hair that seemed to have a face that could have been chiseled from rock because of the hard lines and edges. At that moment, Lexaeus summoned his weapon of choice, which seemed to resemble a giant red and black tomahawk.

"Oh, so you do actually have something to say then. Well, I can't wait to see if you can back up that claim of yours." Ace said, smirking confidently as his hands once again glowed with darkness, even though it was weaker this time. After a moment, the darkness took on the form of two katanas that rested in Ace's hands as if they had been made specifically for him to wield.

"So you too are a being of darkness...This fight shall be interesting." Lexaeus said in a clear and strong voice as he raised his tomahawk above his head and then swung it straight down into the floor. As the heavy weapon connected with the floor, the floor began to crack and even shatter in several places.

Ace felt his confidence shatter just a little like the floor had as he saw the kind of strength that this spirit had. _'Okay, now this might be a slight problem.'_ Ace thought as he tried to build the confidence back up that he had lost. As he felt his confidence coming back, he felt a smirk appear on his face as he looked back up at the strong warrior in front of him. "If you really thought that you could scare me with something as weak as that, then you are sadly mistaken." Ace said as he suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front of Lexaeus as he began to attack with both katanas as quick as he could.

As Lexaeus saw Ace disappear and then reappear in front of him, he kept his cool the entire time. He easily blocked each attack with a slight movement of the enormous tomahawk and then as soon as he felt Ace slow down his onslaught, he retaliated with his own swing.

Ace saw the heavy swing coming towards him and brought both of his katanas in front of him to block it, but it was all in vain. The attack shattered both of the katanas into hundreds of pieces and then connected with his chest, causing him to be sent flying backwards through the air. As Ace felt the attack connect with his chest, he could have sworn that he heard several cracks and pops in his chest from the pressure of the attack but he didn't have time to think about it as he felt himself hit the wall hard. He coughed a little as he fell away from the wall and landed on the floor.

He struggled to get up and managed to after a moment. He was breathing a little rough as he wiped a small stream of blood away from his mouth. That attack had been so strong. It was almost like being hit by a boulder or something. Ace grimaced a little at the pain coming from his chest. He placed his hand over his ribs and it glowed dark for a moment as the darkness seeped through his skin and began to slowly heal his chest injuries that he had sustained from that attack. He knew that if he got attacked like that again then he would be a dead man and he still didn't like the idea of dying a second time.

Lexaeus hefted the gigantic tomahawk onto his shoulder and took a few steps towards Ace. "I expected more of a challenge. You who wield darkness, you cannot even manipulate it to its full extent." Lexaeus said as he stared at Ace as Ace continued to heal his wounds.

Ace laughed a little. "I can't manipulate darkness to its full extent, huh? Well, why don't you ask that little girl that I killed earlier about how powerful I was? But, as for why I seem so weak; that little girl had to come back again one last time and shatter the source of my power. If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask her as soon as you see her. Also, think of this as a little present from your former comrade." Ace said as he summoned several daggers similar to Larxene's from the darkness and threw all of them at Lexaeus' face as he then leapt over Lexaeus and tried to get some distance from him.

Ace then saw Lexaeus take out the daggers one by one without much difficulty. It didn't seem as if they went very deep into his body or anything. _'What is this guy made of? Rock or something?'_ Ace wondered as he used the darkness to summon two new katanas to his hands. He gripped the two katanas as he began to think about how to get past this behemoth's defenses. He knew that Lexaeus had inhumane amounts of strength and that was the main problem. Ace's body had never exactly been the best when it came to physical power; it was more of a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none body. Well, he guessed that he would just have to make do with what darkness that he had left.

Ace grinned as he decided to try something that might just work. He disappeared from where he was standing and reappeared in front of Lexaeus, but only for a moment. He knew that Lexaeus would try to hit him with that heavy tomahawk as soon as he saw him. As soon as he saw the swing headed for him, he disappeared once again without attacking and reappeared behind Lexaeus. As soon as Ace appeared behind the giant, he began his first onslaught against Lexaeus' back. As soon as he saw Lexaeus flinch, he knew that the giant would try to swing the weapon behind him to hit Ace. Before the tomahawk hit, Ace disappeared and reappeared once again, but this time in front of Lexaeus before he continued his onslaught once again. After a few moments, he noticed Lexaeus flinch again and knew that the attack would come in just a second, so he disappeared again, but this time for a slightly different reason.

Ace reappeared once again, but this time in mid-air above Lexaeus, with that grin still visible on his face. "This is the part where you plead for mercy but before you do, I have something very important to tell you. I'm out of mercy right now." Ace said, still grinning, as the floor under Lexaeus glowed with darkness. Suddenly, multiple lances and spears appeared from the darkness piercing through Lexaeus' entire body and propelling him up into the air. As Ace saw Lexaeus' massacred body finally reach the same height as him, his grin became more sadistic like Larxene's and he did a quick roundhouse kick into the only place on Lexaeus' chest that wasn't already impaled by spears and lances and sent him flying through the air, pinning him to the wall in a parody of what he had done to Larxene.

As soon as Ace saw that there was no way that Lexaeus would be able to move or anything, he began to float downwards and landed on the ground. He began breathing a little hard, he had definitely wore himself out somewhat when he summoned all those lances and spears but he couldn't think about that now, he still had to finish this. He walked over to where Lexaeus' shredded body was still pinned to the wall and summoned the same lance that he had used to finish off that annoying girl from before. "Give that little girlfriend of yours a message for me when you see her in the afterlife. _'Too bad that you were so weak, we could have had some more fun if you didn't break so easy.' _" Ace said, imitating Larxene once again as he finally plunged the lance through Lexaeus and saw him disappear as well.

As Ace walked away towards the next room, he made sure this time to keep his concentration on everything around him, so that this spirit couldn't do anything like his former comrade did. After he was sure that this spirit wasn't coming back, he walked through the door into the light once again ready to confront the next spirit.


	8. Chapter 8 Shattered Ice

**Chapter 8**

**Shattered Ice:**

As the light disappeared once again, Ace looked around at the room around him. "Oh come on, is every room in this castle exactly like? Couldn't they have at least changed it up somewhat?" Ace asked sarcastically as he watched his next opponent appear in front of him. This cloaked spirit already had his hood down and seemed to have long light brown/blonde hair and chilly eyes. "So, who are you? The mad scientist?" Ace asked, sneering a little.

"You insolent...My name is Vexen." The figure, Vexen, said as he summoned his trademark weapon, a shield made of ice. "I guess it's finally my turn to test you and see what kind of results I get." Vexen said.

"Yep, you definitely fit the mad scientist role perfectly. So, a sadist, a silent loner, and a mad scientist. Wow, what a group." Ace said as he concentrated on what weapon he wanted to use to take this guy down. He needed something that would be able to penetrate that shield or be able to go around it. He grinned a little as he thought of the perfect weapon. His entire right arm became covered in darkness as the weapon began to form. As the darkness faded away after a moment, the weapon could finally be seen. It was a long spiked chain that was wrapped around his right arm.

Vexen noticed the weapon that seemed to be made from whatever darkness that this monstrosity controlled. "Interesting. I actually expected you to summon either a keyblade or some type of katana as your weapon. I guess my calculations were off on that particular guess." Vexen said, trying to figure out why this person would summon a chain over other weapons.

Ace just laughed a little. "One, I've already 'killed' one of your allies with twin katanas even though that is kind of clichéd. Two, why would I ever want to waste my time with a pathetic weapon like a keyblade?" Ace responded as he prepared to kick start the battle. He lashed out with the chain towards Vexen, even though he wasn't exactly aiming at Vexen.

Vexen saw the chain coming towards him and ducked as the whip flew over his head. He then stood back up somewhat and prepared to counterattack, but there was one problem, Ace was gone.

"Miss me?" Ace asked as he appeared behind Vexen and swung again with the chain.

"Wha-?" Vexen started, when he suddenly stopped talking as he realized that the chain was wrapped around his throat and the spikes were starting to dig in.

Ace grinned a little as he pulled back on the chain hard, harshly removing it from around Vexen's throat while using the momentum to swing Vexen up into mid air at the same time. Ace then wrapped the chain around Vexen's right foot and slammed him down into the floor hard. Ace then landed back on the floor without any trouble at all. "Wow, that was way too easy. Are you sure that you're in the same league as everybody else around here?" Ace asked as he waited for the man's reply.

"Hold your tongue! I'll show you that I'm in the same league as everybody else here. There was a reason that I was Number IIIV in the Organization." Vexen replied, standing back up and grabbing his ice shield again as the room seemed to grow colder by the second. After a few moments, the entire room was frozen in ice and there were ice spikes everywhere on the floor, walls, and ceiling.

Ace whistled a little as he looked around at the changed room. "Finally, at least now the room looks different. Thank goodness, I was starting to get tired of seeing the same sickening pure white everywhere." Ace said before he turned his attention back to Vexen. Suddenly an ice spike began to form under Ace's feet and he jumped up into the air, impaling an ice spike on the ceiling with his chain, and using it to swing around to another part of the room. "That was kind of a sneaky move." Ace said as he whipped the chain towards Vexen again.

Before the chain could reach Vexen though, an ice spike suddenly appeared in front of Vexen that stopped the chain, even though the chain did end up shattering the ice spike in the process.

Ace then tried swinging the chain again, but Vexen raised a wall of ice in front of himself that protected him from it. "You're really starting to get on my nerves. You're way too defensive for my tastes." Ace said as he whipped the chain around several times, completely shattering the entire wall of ice that protected Vexen. But then, Ace stopped his attack. He had an idea that might just hurry up and win this boring battle without having to draw it out any longer. Ace swung the chain up towards the ceiling and swung it around multiple times causing all of the ice spikes and everything else to start falling from the ceiling all around them. Ace saw Vexen try to dodge the ice at first and then raised a barrier of ice all around him to protect him from the falling ice. Ace grinned a little as he prepared to finish this lame battle. Vexen had just made one big mistake: never take your eyes off of your opponent for even a split second. Ace swung the chain out again, completely straight this time. The chain penetrated straight through the ice as well as straight through Vexen's chest where his heart should have been if he had one and then the chain went through the other side of the ice. "Now, I've got you. You can't protect yourself now." Ace said as he pulled back hard on the chain, causing Vexen's body to smash through the ice and Ace then began to swing Vexen around like a rag doll as he swung him into the surrounding walls, ice spikes, and anything else that was in sight. Finally, Ace swung the chain up one last time and then suddenly swung it straight back down as hard and fast as he could before he ripped his chain back out of Vexen's body.

Vexen screamed as his body came crashing back down onto the hard ice-covered floor as he felt every bone in his entire body break with the fall. He couldn't even move nor talk anymore after the impact was over. Everything inside of his body had been completely crushed thanks to this monster's chain.

Ace made the chain disappear back into the darkness as he walked over to Vexen's body. He stood over the body looking down at the one formerly known as the Chilly Academic. "You're nothing like your two other allies. They actually posed a challenge before I murdered the both of them. You couldn't even stand up to my attacks and couldn't even so much as scratch me. You're not even good enough to be considered a scientist since you couldn't even calculate any of my moves or do anything even remotely scientific during our 'battle'." Ace said, insulting Vexen on so many levels. "Now, I've got business to attend to with the rest of the spirits here. I'm finished with you." Ace said as his right hand glowed for a second as he summoned the exact same lance that he had used on the last two and pierced Vexen's body with it, killing him once and for all.

"Time to move on then." Ace said, noticing the remaining ice in the room starting to melt as he walked up to the door and walked into the blinding light once more.


	9. Chapter 9 The Assassin's Final Assignmen

**Chapter 9**

**The Assassin's Final Assignment:**

Ace opened his eyes to see another of the white rooms again. He could already sense another presence in the room, but he couldn't feel anymore spirits anywhere else in the castle. "Well, it seems like you're the last one standing. Well come on then, hopefully you'll be more fun than that stupid '_scientist'_." Ace sneered as he waited for this final spirit to pull his hood off.

"Even though you are not the same person that I welcomed to this castle, I still must congratulate you on actually making it this far. You, who are a being of darkness, you truly understand the power of darkness and can actually wield it to it's most powerful limits...Well you could, at least until Number XII shattered the key to your control." The figure said as he removed his hood to reveal a male with pink hair.

Ace let out a laugh when he saw what the spirit actually looked like. "Come on, pink hair? You've got to be kidding me, but well, I've definitely seen stranger things." Ace said, completely ignoring what the pink haired spirit just said.

"...Smug little brat. I Marluxia, the king of Castle Oblivion, will put you in your place." Marluxia said a scythe appeared in mid air that he gripped with both of his hands and pointed it at Ace.

A smirk began to appear on Ace's face as the darkness appeared once again in his right hand, summoning yet another weapon. After a few moments, the darkness finally disappeared to reveal what kind of weapon had been summoned this time. In Ace's hand now lay an ornately designed knight sword. The sword's blade had a slightly rippled effect to it and the entire sword was a mixture of obsidian black and crimson red along with multiple gems that were embedded in multiple spots all the way down the blade. "Well, a little flashier than I wanted, but this'll work fine." Ace said as he got into his attack stance and motioned for Marluxia to come at him with his free hand.

A small smirk crossed Marluxia's face as he just stood in place as he watched Ace summon his weapon and motion for him to come at him. He moved one hand away from his scythe and opened up the palm to reveal a single flower petal that flew up into the center of the room. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, the entire room transformed into a jungle where visibility and movement was severely constricted. Marluxia then seemed to disappear into the surrounding foliage and plants in the jungle.

Ace looked around the room turned jungle and his smirk began to fade a little. This would definitely make it a little bit harder to fight. Suddenly, he heard movement behind him and he ducked as the scythe sliced through the space where his head had been. "Got you." Ace said as he swung the sword behind himself and saw it slice Marluxia in half, but then he saw Marluxia turn into flower petals and disappear.

"There's a reason why I am called The Graceful Assassin." Marluxia said as he appeared above Ace and sliced straight down at him.

"As if I care. I couldn't care less what you're called." Ace said as he dodged the slash and countered with his own slash that caused Marluxia to turn into flower petals again. "Hold still you coward." Ace said, he was beginning to lose his cool against this coward. He dodged another slash and counterattacked once again with the same outcome. "Fine then, if you won't hold still then I'll force you to." Ace said as he felt Marluxia's breath on the back of his neck. He had one chance at this. He stood there and grimaced slightly in pain as he felt the scythe slice deep into his stomach. Ace turned around somewhat, grinning as he grabbed the scythe and yanked Marluxia closer towards him. As Marluxia got closer, Ace's left hand suddenly glowed with darkness as he thrust his hand deep into Marluxia's chest and sent the darkness into Marluxia's body. He then tore the scythe out of his chest and tossed it away, along with Marluxia.

Marluxia landed on his feet without too much trouble and gripped his scythe tighter than usual as he breathed a little hard. "What was that supposed to do?" Marluxia asked as he disappeared again and then reappeared behind Ace and tried to slash him.

"This." Ace said as he swung his sword around behind him and it cut clean through Marluxia's right arm, sending the arm and scythe flying through the air. "I put some of my own darkness inside of your body so that you wouldn't be able to do that little trick again to avoid my attacks." Ace said. He then turned around and pierced the sword straight through Marluxia's heart and then tossed him like a rag doll through the air and against the far wall hard enough to crack a couple of ribs.

"What are you? A demon, darkness incarnated, just a mere shadow of that Keyblade Master's true potential? How could you..." Marluxia tried to say, gasping for breath as he saw Ace walking towards him, still wielding that bloodstained sword as the entire jungle began to wither and die behind him, the room returning to it's true form.

Ace stopped only a few feet away from Marluxia's dying body and looked down at him. "Just call me Shade, that's easier than just trying to figure out what I am. As for how I beat you, unlike Ace, I don't have any morals or limits to stop me from doing whatever I want. But I have to admit, you actually were a challenge – annoying but a challenge. Now, here's your reward." Ace said as the sword disappeared and the same lance from before appeared in his hand and he stabbed it into Marluxia's dying body to kill him once and for all. He then looked at the door in front of him, he could already tell that something was different about the room in front of him. He had just killed the spirit that resided in the last room remaining in the castle and on the other side of that door was the end of his fun. He would have to give this body back to Ace once he walked through that door. "Well Ace, you can thank me for everything later. I actually had some fun testing out your body." Ace said to himself as he stepped through the door feeling the two souls in the body switching places for the second time and felt himself fall forward onto the ground.


	10. Chapter 10 The Morning Dawn

**Chapter 10**

**The Morning Dawn:**

Ace's eyes slowly opened to reveal that they were no longer the eyes of a demon, but were their normal grayish blue once again. He grunted a little out of exhaustion as he tried to force himself back up on his feet. After a few moments, he was finally able to get up and looked at the long road that lay ahead of him. He then turned around a little and looked at the castle that now lay behind him. He sighed a little out of relief but then he stopped suddenly. _'Wait, why do I feel relieved? Besides that, where in the heck am I? And what am I doing here?' _Ace wondered to himself as he looked down at what he was wearing. He was wearing a simple white t-shirt, a dark blue unzipped windbreaker jacket, some kind of necklace that hung around his neck, fingerless white gloves, and blue toned cargo pants that stopped at the top of a pair of white sneakers. He then realized something else as he finished looking over his clothes. "I wonder, was I in a fight or something?" Ace asked himself as he noticed all the dried blood that was splattered all over his clothes and all of the tears and rips that were all over them too.

Ace shrugged to himself after a moment. Thinking and wondering wouldn't help him much right now. He had to try to find somebody who would know why he couldn't remember anything besides his name. That was the only thing that he could remember, just his name, Ace. He looked off into the distance to see the sun just beginning to rise and saw the multitude of colors that came with it, coloring the sky different shades of red, orange, and yellow as he continued to watch it in the distance. "Well if this blood is any guess, then it doesn't look as if I can just go back the way that I got here and find anybody that might know me." Ace said as he began to walk down the path that led to the rising sun.

After a short while of walking, the exhaustion that he had felt when he first woke up was beginning to grow worse and worse. Every bone in his body ached like there was no tomorrow and his eye sight had been getting blurry by the minute ever since the exhaustion had begun to start taking its toll on him. He knew that his body couldn't keep going like this but he really wanted to find someone, anyone, before he took a break. He continued to struggle on, still walking down that endless path that had originally had grass growing everywhere on both sides of the path, to a path that was now quickly becoming more like a desert or wasteland instead of the grassy meadows from before.

After a few more hours, his body finally couldn't take the stress anymore. He didn't even have enough energy left to even so much as brace himself when he felt himself falling forward and onto the dusty, desert like ground. His eyes slowly closed as he tried to spit out a little of the dust that had gotten into his mouth when he fell, but he was too tired. His eyes finally closed and his last thoughts were just a silent prayer that someone, anyone, would find him.


End file.
